GETTING AHEAD OF THE DEEP SECRETS STORY: Journalist Zach Dorfman, who has written for a variety of publications ranging from Politico to Rolling Stone, posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) that he has inked a deal with Crown publishers to write a book called Deep Cover: A Secret History. According to a publishing industry newsletter, the book is intended to be “an account of America’s history of “non-official cover” spies, from the Cold War to the present day.” Those who engage in this kind of activity often take the job at “deep personal risk” because they operate without the benefit of diplomatic cover. No word on when the book will be out – but we imagine it’ll be a while – since Dorfman’s post on X trolled for those with deep cover stories to reach out and share their stories with him.
DEEP MISUNDERSTANDING: Utah Senator Mike Lee decided it would be a good idea to re-X an X post from the hacker, internet entrepreneur, and serial bad actor known as Kim Dotcom. Dotcom (or whatever his name is) has been trying to avoid extradition to the United States from New Zealand for over a decade. The U.S. Department of Justice has been trying to bring him to America to face charges of copyright infringement, money laundering, racketeering and wire fraud. In his recent X post, Dotcom alleges that an internet meme outfit called NAFO “North Atlantic Fella Organization” which has enjoyed mocking Russia and pro-Russian organizations since shortly after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine – is really a CIA-funded outfit. But Dotcom says the CIA has run out of money for NAFO and it is dead. Senator Lee took to X to say the U.S. government should never been allowed to funnel resources through a third party to support clandestine propaganda campaigns to influence public opinion among U.S. citizens. Neither Lee nor Dotcom provide any evidence that NAFO IS funded by the CIA…although the organization’s X page does list as their location: Langley, Virginia which (we’re going to go out on a limb here) might be a joke.
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